After longtime dictator Omar al-Bashir was overthrown in 2019, the country saw "the flowering of an artistic community that had long been harassed, censored and forced into the shadows." Now, says one artist, "we finally thought we were free and then this happened." - The Guardian
"Banksy has emerged as a possible white knight in a long-unrealized plan to transform the vacant prison where Oscar Wilde was once held into an art center. Reading Gaol has been up for sale since 2019 and, without a better offer, could potentially be turned into apartments." - Artnet
"The pass shows proof of vaccination, or recovery from the virus within the last six months. It will be needed to enter theatres, cinemas, music venues, sports events, restaurants and bars until (at least) mid-January." - BBC
Self-care might be thought of as the newest form of the art of living well, the understanding of a good life that exists in the particular balance of structure and spontaneity, a practice that encompasses both discipline and indulgence. - Hedgehog Review
Is it that much easier for the average 5-year old to sit still for hours on end and listen to a teacher talk in person than it is virtually? So should we be taking the opportunity to consider how we teach, whether in person or online? - 3 Quarks Daily
"Artists are taught to see each other as competition ... and to believe that failure to achieve status in their chosen field is solely due to a lack of individual talent." The pandemic, Black Lives Matter protests, and social media changed all that. - Los Angeles Review of Books
Such are the questions that a global, murderous pandemic will make most of us ask. And we might wonder: "What work is actually valuable? It’s incredibly unclear." - The Atlantic
The recent passage of a $1.2 trillion federal infrastructure bill is a big step toward tackling some of those problems, but as East River Park shows, even when money is at hand, our convoluted systems often make it difficult or impossible to find consensus and work at the speed and scale required. - The New York Times
Accurate is the word of the match so far. Inevitably, the string of draws is the main narrative out of Dubai; no one has won a regulation game in the world championship in more than five years. But wins at this rarefied level most often come thanks to an opponent’s mistake. - FiveThirtyEight
As the Steven Spielberg/Tony Kushner film arrives, New York Times critics Jesse Green and Isabelia Herrera, playwright Matthew López, theater historian Misha Berson (author of a history of the show), and writer Carina del Valle Schorske (emphatically not a fan) have at the question. - The New York Times
When performances started up again in the UK over the summer, masks weren't made mandatory (much to the alarm of some visitors from abroad). But with Delta and Omicron coronaviruses continuing to sicken people, venues are starting to insist that patrons wear face coverings. - The New York Times
The list is utterly subjective and non-comprehensive—no matter how much you watch, there’s somehow much more you’ve missed—but it includes ten people (or groups of people) who burst through the excess of amusements, onscreen or onstage, and did something extraordinary. - The New Yorker
U.S. copyright law seeks to protect “original works of authorship” by barring unauthorized copying of all kinds of creative material: sheet music, poetry, architectural works, paintings and even computer software. But recipes are much harder to protect. - The New York Times
ArtPlace leaders announced their venture would prove the arts was an economic engine. Investing in arts and culture, “can be the economic equivalent of bringing a manufacturing plant to a neighborhood.” By decade’s end, ArtPlace’s success had little to do with economics. - Philanthropy
